Come hear Joel spin tales of the fools of Chelm at the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto!  In case you don't know Chelm, it's that tiny village in the Jewish imagination, located on the road from Warsaw to Chotzenplotz, where people are so foolish they believe they are wise.  Joel's stories will be accompanied by musicians from the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, playing klezmer-inspired tunes.  It's a great way to spend lunch laughing - and who doesn't need a good laugh, especially these days?

"Harvesting the Stories of Our Lives" - a Stagebridge Workshop

  Finding and Telling Our Healing Stories Rancho la Puerta is one of the most beautiful places in the world - and a perfect place for finding and sharing stories. Joel's storytelling is one of many inspiring and healing offerings throughout the week at the ranch, from yoga to meditation to hiking to dance to lectures, all with fantastic, healthy food.  It varies each week, so check out their web site to get a full sense of what Rancho la Puerta offers, their rates and so on. As for storytelling, Joel will kick off the week with an evening presentation on "Stories of Wisdom, Stories of Healing."   The class portion of Joel's teaching runs 45 minutes over the course of four days, gathered around a beautiful stone fireplace in the Oaktree Pavilion.   While our stories naturally spill over into other activities, the week at Rancho la Puerta shouldn't be seen as a storytelling intensive, but as a wonderful healing experience, in which stories play a part.     The focus of those workshops will be to find and tell those stories that lie hidden in the distant corners or our memories and imaginations,  treasures amidst the detritus of life. When we discover these stories, they can bring back wisdom we gained long ago, but have somehow forgotten. And when we share these stories, they can bring about a healing of the spirit, which is something we all need.